Previous
Allusions
Part 1
Explanation and Analysis—Dialect and Masculinity:
While riding the bus to school as a young boy, Little Dog becomes an enticing figure for burgeoning bullies. As a small, non-White child who does not conform to traditional American notions of masculinity, Little Dog is sadly a prime target for the homophobic violence of his peers. In the following excerpt from Part 1, Vuong utilizes metaphor and dialect to characterize this brutal scene:
“Don’t you ever say nothin’? Don’t you speak English?” He grabbed my shoulder and spun me to face him. “Look at me when I’m talking to you.”
He was only nine but had already mastered the dialect of damaged American fathers. The boys crowded around me, sensing entertainment. I could smell their fresh-laundered clothes, the lavender and lilac in the softeners.
Little Dog compares the aggressive, toxic way his bullies address him to a "dialect," one they've learned by listening to their fathers. This "dialect" is not another language in the strictest sense; rather, it is a way of demanding respect and deference from those deemed "weaker": women, queer people, or children. In the same way Little Dog "inherits" the wartime trauma of his mother, aunt, and grandmother, so do his bullies inherit the trauma of rigid masculine norms, forced upon them by fathers who undoubtedly inherited the same.
Related Themes:
